Garrard 301 motor and rumble


I had my 301 restored but I still complain about rumble at high volume. Iv'e been bitching about the plinth I made, but I just lifted the platter to see if perhaps the motor was the issue. when you engage the idler and apply a little pressure to engage fully, I feel the vibration. Either the brass speed selection post is not true or its the motor transmitting the vibration, but the motor seems very smooth.

 

What steps should I employ to figure this out?

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Ah, the joys of idler/rim drive! Proponents claim a more forceful sound but with a higher noise floor! So a tradeoff there! 

@jasonbourne71 A nice measured answer. Thank you. As you modify the 301 with a such things as a precision machined brass bearing assembly and a heavier platter along with the many other steps to get the best of the 301 (like a complete motor rebuild) the 301 becomes less noisy but also loses some of that forcefulness. The Shindo 301 is a good example. The platter weighs more than 20 lbs whereas the original platter weighs 2.2 Kg, about 4.7 lbs.

I appreciate your frustration, but isn't complaining about the high volume rumble of a vintage Garrard 301, kind of like buying a vintage British sports car like a Lotus Super 7, then complaining that you can feel every bump in the road?

Isn't it just inherent in the idler wheel technology?

FWIW, a high quality PS like the LDA made by Fidelity Research (see the other thread) will almost certainly reduce motor noise, and also make it run smoother thereby reducing idler noise as well.  How much benefit is for an end user to say.  The Walker Audio Precision Motor Controller made a huge difference to the sonics of my Nottingham Analog Hyper, even though the Notts is of course a BD, not an ID, and even though the Walker is a crude device compared to the LDA.

I would like to give you the unmeasured answer but it will upset Fsonicsmith and you know the answer already along with the solution.

Idler wheel drives do not have a more forceful presentation. That is lay intuition and a psychological bias. All turntables with identical speed stability and identical cartridges and tonearms have the same "forcefulness."